Total Wine & More opens this week: ‘It’s going to be a wow kind of experience’

There’s a lot of buzz over the opening of the new Total Wine & More store at Greenwich Place, and you might wonder why if you’ve never been to one.

In a word, the store is massive.

“It’s going to be a wow kind of experience,” said Edward Cooper, vice president of public affairs and community relations. “By design, it does feel like a different kind of store.”

The store is in the former Steinmart space in the development at K-96 and Greenwich. It’s just over 33,000 square feet.

The soft opening of the store starts Friday, and there’s a grand opening the evening of Dec. 6.

“The first thing that folks will notice is how the store is laid out,” Cooper said.

He said team members greet customers at the front.

“Team members have great knowledge of the layout in the store and of the products in the store.”

Cooper said there will be 50 to 75 “highly trained, customer-focused team members,” 75% of whom are full time.

“That’s unusual in this industry.”

He said employees make good wages and have benefits such as 401(k) plans and vacation.

“We want to give them an opportunity where they can have a career with us.”

There also are displays as customers walk in, and there are separate areas for more than 8,000 kinds of wine, more than 2,500 kinds of beer and almost 4,000 kinds of spirits.

Among those will be local products, which are highlighted by the Kansas flag.

“If they see a Kansas state flag, they’ll know that’s a local product,” Cooper said.

There are flat-panel monitors throughout the store that have information about products. They’re particularly located near tasting stations for customers to try the products.

There’s also what Cooper called a high-tech wine education center for ongoing training of staff and samplings with wholesalers and specialists for customers.

There’s a meet-the-makers series where guests can do virtual tastings with producers in places such as Napa Valley.

To be clear, the visits with the producers are virtual, but the wine can be sampled in person.

Brothers David and Robert Trone started Total Wine in 1991 with one Delaware store.

There are now 260 stores in 28 states, including Kansas, where Robert Trone opened a store in Overland Park in July. David Trone owns the Wichita store. The brothers own the stores separately because in Kansas, operators can have a license for only one store.

“Kansas is a little bit interesting,” Cooper said.

There isn’t a drive-through but there is curbside pickup.

Hours will be 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.

Cooper said the store is brightly lit with wide aisles and is warm and inviting.

“What we try to create for the customer is an experience,” he said.

“It should be a wow.”